bowel obstruction

Question
Hello, My rabbit Lucky is currently suffering from a bowel obstruction.  After reading other articles I think it may be from his hair.  I took him to an emergency animal clinic, but they know very little about rabbits.  They took an x-ray to prove the obstruction and sent me home with an antibiotic and the advice to syringe applesauce and applejuice to help loosen the blockage.  Lucky takes the syringes' fine, but is no longer eating and is not passing stool. What else can I do to help get the mass moving? Lucky will let me do about anything to him, so please I will try whatever. Thanks

Answer
Dear Vanessa,

If the emergency clinic wasn't familiar with rabbits, I would not necessarily trust their diagnosis of "obstruction," which is really not common in rabbits.  Please read this right away:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html

and find a good rabbit vet here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

If there really is a desiccated mass in the intestine that's not moving, your bunny will likely need subcutaneous fluids and osmotic laxatives such as lactulose (an indigestible sugar) and epsom salts dissolved in water.  In extreme cases, an enema can help tremendously, but don't do this without instruction from an expert veterinarian, since it can be dangerous if you don't know what to do.

Instructions are included in the article above, so you can read them and know what to ask the vet.

I think the most important thing is to get him to a good *rabbit* vet right away, for proper diagnosis and treatment.  If this is ileus, it's a symptom, and not the actual problem.  The most common causes of ileus are incorrect diet:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/diet.html

and dental pain:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/dental.html

I hope this helps.

Dana